The present invention relates to a support element of improved type for a vehicle wheel, and in particular to an element or support unit adapted to form part of the vehicle suspension and able to connect the wheel in a rotatable manner to the suspension strut itself and, possibly, to the constant velocity joint if it is a driven wheel.
It is known that the connection of the wheels of a vehicle to the elements of the suspension thereof is currently effected by means of a plurality of members of complex form, high weight and high cost, comprising at least a hub, a stub axle and a rolling element bearing so that the connection unit as a whole has large dimensions, is constructionally very complex and is very expensive and heavy; in more improved vehicles there have been introduced bearings having a double ring of balls and provided with flanges which perform both the functions of the hub and the stub axle thus permitting much simplification and allowing the attachment parts between the wheel and the suspension to be lightened; however, even such bearings have a relatively large axial dimension and, in the presence of small radial spaces, have low efficiency due to the necessity of employing rolling element bearings of small diameter which are therefore able to support only relatively low loads.